24-01-2023
In 2022, Swiss Post processed fewer parcels than in 2021. A total of 194 million parcels were sorted or delivered by Swiss Post staff to all regions of Switzerland last year – from Geneva to Scuol, from Basel to Chiasso. That is 4 percent less than in the previous year, which meant that the company was unable to break the all-time record set in 2021. Parcel logistics was hit by many uncertainties in 2022. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, for example, consumer confidence has been subdued as people have been doing less shopping online. In 2022, global supply bottlenecks in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic also meant that many retailers suffered delays in ordering their goods, or were unable to place orders at all, and parcel volumes declined accordingly. At the same time, 2022 was the first year since 2019 with no pandemic lockdowns in Switzerland: people were again able to shop in-store throughout the year and had their goods delivered by Swiss Post less frequently. For this reason, it is useful to compare the figures with the year before the pandemic: compared to 2019, Swiss Post carried 30 percent more parcels last year. This comparison with 2019 shows that the long-term trend in parcels is upwards, albeit much less pronounced than in the two years of coronavirus.
People in Switzerland are sending fewer and fewer letters
Letter volumes have declined by about one third overall over the last 10 years. As expected, this trend continued in 2022. Swiss Post’s mail carriers delivered a total of 1,745 million addressed letters in 2022, a decline of 4 percent over the previous year (2021: 1,811 million addressed letters).
Swiss Post has become more flexible
Fewer letters, more parcels – this is a trend going back many years now, and it is set to continue. In total, Swiss Post created around 230 new jobs in the sorting and delivery of parcels in 2022. It has also brought two new regional parcel centers on stream, in Rümlang (Canton of Zurich) and Buchs (Canton of Aargau). This enabled Swiss Post to sort and deliver parcels to the usual high standard of quality – quickly and reliably – especially in the run-up to Christmas.
In 2021, Swiss Post brought together its letter and parcel units in organizational terms, a step which again proved valuable in 2022. Parcel carriers now receive considerable support from colleagues who previously only delivered letters. Today, around half of all letter mail carriers deliver parcels as well. This means that Swiss Post has not only secured jobs with new responsibilities for letter mail carriers, it has also become more flexible when facing short-term increases in parcel volumes. Swiss Post can now sort up to 200,000 small parcels per day in letter centers. Synergies like this make Swiss Post more efficient. The company will continue with this focus in the future and invest in its parcel infrastructure. For example, Swiss Post is currently installing a sorting system for parcels at its letter center in Härkingen. It is expected to start operation this year.
Source: Swiss Post